Methods for avoiding collisions between motor vehicles and other objects, for example, other motor vehicles or bicycle riders, pedestrians, and immovable objects, have existed for several years, and are already being installed in motor vehicles as standard equipment.
Particularly serious collisions frequently occur if two motor vehicles collide head-on. It is not uncommon for accidents of this type to be fatal, particularly as the speed of the two motor vehicles may be high particularly on freeways, and the relative speed between the two motor vehicles may be very high.
German Patent Application No. DE 10 2009 020 647 A1 describes a method for collision avoidance or collision consequence mitigation for motor vehicles. Here, among other things, a time-distance relationship is used for selecting the necessary actions, taking into consideration the surroundings of a motor vehicle.